Craig's List for Skiers

You’ve seen it before: forests’ worth of boards packed in the back of closets. It’s hard to part with gear. But two new websites aim to make it easier on the outdoor community to clean house, make money, and restore all this inactive gear to a meaningful existence.

When he’s not training for the upcoming World Cup season or the 2010 Olympic Games, Erik Fisher, a member of the U.S. Ski Team, has been launching skodeo.com, an online sports-classifieds site where you can find anything from dirt bikes to surfing accessories to snowkites. The website categories are limited to land, water, snow, wind, and motorsports. You can offload and buy new gear without being assaulted by fake Tiffany and Co. ads and creepy Craig’s List personals.

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Fisher, a 24-year-old, soft-spoken downhill and super G racer (and snowkiter, surfer, dirtbiker, kayaker) says he decided to create Skodeo because he sees a big opportunity for an outdoor-gear marketplace, and notes there should be much more trading, buying, and selling of gear. “I see how much gear is sitting in my garage and all of my buddies’ as well, that’s still in perfect condition and ready for someone else to use,” Fisher says. “My goal is to get that gear out of the garage and in to use."

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Skodeo also aims to give back to the community, by teaming up with organizations that promote outdoor sports. Any outdoor club can register, then sellers can select a registered club, listed on the site, to donate a portion of their listing fee.

Another similar site has recently launched as well. Localskigear.com was founded by a Park City engineer named Steve Schueler. Here’s what Schueler had to say about his site: “Put some of your product on there. Tell anyone else you know who is interested in buying and selling ski gear. The more people who find out about it the more it will meet people’s needs. It is set up for local sales and interactions between skiers and boarders. The idea is that locally-based transactions benefit your town and the environment by recycling and reusing ski and snowboard gear, reducing the environmental impacts of having to ship gear, and keeping the money in the community which strengthens local economic vitality. Plus, you keep all the money, we take nothing.”

Jackson Hole custom-ski-maker Igneous produces one-off powder boards made to withstand any kind of beating. If you can find the warehouse in Jackson (through an unmarked door in an industrial-looking building), they'll make you whatever you want.

Lately some pro skiers have been using their influence to start nonprofits. We take a look at She Jumps, an organization co-founded by pro skier Lynsey Dyer, that aims to get girls into the outdoors. She Jumps is hosting a fundraiser in Salt Lake City on January 21. We also check out Alpine Initiatives, started by a group of skiers, that helps developing countries in need.

A year and a half ago, American ski racer Caitlin Ciccone quit racing for good. Or so she thought. Now with the 2010 Vancouver Olympics around the corner, she’s trying to make the U.S. Women’s Ski Cross team. That is, if she can raise enough money to go to the Games.